Even among the underworld of extreme metal, after more than three decades, no band is more vile than Cryptopsy. While only a year removed from winning a Canadian Grammy, this summer, the legendary band of brutal death metal technicians reigned infernal bloodshed over Europe in high anticipation of their critically acclaimed new album.
Ever since they came rumbling down from the Blue Ridge Mountains, Bask have sounded of their very own time and place. The climb to reach album number four ended up taking these Southern trailblazers on one hell of a trip. But on The Turning, the band take their homebrewed Heavy Americana to a whole new dimension.
After almost a decade of soul searching through the Canadian wilderness, Anciients are finally returning to the U.S. Starting next week, the heavy, heady and heartfelt Canucks will guide neighboring metal legions through the many peaks of their latest JUNO Award-winning album Beyond the Reach of the Sun. During this month-long trek, the band will blaze across both coasts and the Southwest with special stops down south around ProgPower USA.
Stoned Jesus have already made their mark as true trailblazers, but with their new album, these pilgrims of heavy progressive rock are embarking on their most expansive journey yet. The lead single from Songs to Sun opens with one of the band’s doomiest riffs. Though as revealed by frontman Igor Sydorenko, “Shadowland” gleams with surprising twists and hidden hooks.
For as long as they’ve been together, Bask have called Asheville, North Carolina home. But ever since they came rumbling down from the Land of the Sky, it was clear that these Southern trailblazers were cut from a different neck of the woods. On their upcoming fourth album, the band take Heavy Americana to a whole new dimension. The latest single from The Turning revolves around “The Traveler”, a mysteriously ageless gunslinger who refuses to go down amidst a mind-melting blaze of glory.
Finland’s symphonic black metal innovators, …and Oceans, are set to bring the ritualistic weight of their latest album, The Regeneration Itinerary, to the stage this December with a co‑headline tour alongside Mörk Gryning and Angstkrig. Titled The European Regeneration MMXXV, the tour will span nine select cities, offering a visceral live experience that merges stark orchestral atmospheres with experimental extremity.
Already this year, Weedeater have hit the old dusty trail with their Season of Mist labelmates Bask before joining Napalm Death and Melvins for a savage imperial death march. But the Cape Fear legends have plenty more sludge in the tank. The band are rolling up 2025 with a fresh strand of headlining shows, plus dates with Acid Bath, High on Fire and Baroness in honor of the The Red Album and Blue Record.
This December, death metal juggernauts CRYPTOPSY return to Japan—and they’re not coming alone. Joining them for two exclusive Tokyo dates is the country’s own DEFILED, bringing their chaotic and cerebral brand of old-school death metal to the stage at Shibuya WWW X, Tokyo.
Deströyer 666 continue to take no prisoners. K.K. and his roving gang of black thrash bullies have been hammering the European festival circuit this summer. Now, the band are announcing their return to the U.S. for a blistering run of dates leading up to Metal Threat. They’ll be joined by Ares Kingdom and Adorior.
After more than a decade since their last classic entry, Gorguts are finally returning to the studio. As they prepare to record the full-length follow-up to the critically acclaimed Colored Sands, the Canadian pioneers of technical dissonance are sharpening their axes by celebrating two of death metal’s biggest landmarks. This fall, the band are touring North America with Death to All in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of Spiritual Healing and the 30th anniversary of Symbolic.
Over the past 20 odd years, Hooded Menace have stood not as a bridge but a pillar between two different realms of underground metal. The cultishly beloved band’s upcoming seventh album is still bound by a morbid obsession with classic horrors. But on Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration, Finland’s stewards of death-doom remain far from stuck in their ways. Lead single “Portrait Without a Face” cranks up the neon-soaked nightmares while digging out a grave new surprise from under their long-sleeve. Watch the classic horror video for “Portrait Without a Face” on the Season of Mist YouTube channel.
Had Green Carnation never returned from hiatus during the mid-2000s, the Norwegian band would’ve been remembered for completing one of the most ambitious individual epics in metal’s archives. But with their upcoming new album, the progressive metal auteurs are setting sail on a three-part journey that’s two decades in the making. A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia is the first in a trilogy of albums that promises to take new and lifelong fans to the highest tops and darkest of inner rooms.
German black metal collective DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT reveal a drum playthrough for “Eos”, the devastating lead single from their new studio album Innern, to be released via Season of Mist on September 12. Captured in a single take, the video showcases drummer Tobias Schuler’s intricate and commanding performance—seamlessly navigating the track’s wide dynamic range, from tribal rhythmic meditations to relentless blast-beat-driven climaxes.
Whether charging through deadly technical whirlwinds or blackened ice storms, Ragnar Sverrisson has quickly established himself as a leading drummer for extreme metal. The Reykjavík native burst onto the scene with the brutal Beneath and has performed live with symphonic stars Carach Angren. When he’s not on tour with Abyssal, Sverrisson splits time between the tech-death band and Icelandic Music Award nominees Ophidian I and his blackened death metal duo Helfró.
For the past 15 years, Faber Horbach has traced our connection with the sun through the music of Sowulo, but his upcoming concept album journeys into darkness. Written while grieving the loss of both his father and stepfather, the new single from NIHT is a mythopoetic lament. Looking to Norse cosmology, “Sōl ond Māni” explores the loss of both light and life by using a broken instrument to give death a voice.
After topping best of 2024 lists and breaking onto the Billboard charts, this year, Defeated Sanity have been slamming Europe and Latin America in support of their latest offering of brutally innovative, technical death metal. Now, as they prepare to level the stage next weekend at Brutal Assault, at long last, the band are announcing that they’re bringing Chronicles of Lunacy to the U.S.
Before appearing out of the Canadian woodwork back in 2011, Beyond Creation had already undergone multiple permutations. But with the band’s full-length debut, the Montréal four-piece quickly revealed themselves as the next evolution in technical death metal. With microscopic precision, The Aura splices together classic brutality and prog’s insatiable curiosity with a refreshing knack for melody. The resulting triple helix has been encoded in the genre’s DNA ever since.
Backed by their defiant new album, Mawiza continue to serve as a guiding force for indigenous metal. By integrating tribal rhythms and ancient instruments into modern groove metal, these modern day Mapuche warriors have won the respect of the Chilean Grammys and scene elders like Mercyful Fate, Mastodon, Slipknot and Gojira. Now, ÜL is winning them new fans all across the globe.